|
A national assessment was undertaken by the
National Botanical Institute in 1999 comprising the development of a
combined degradation index and was done through a rapid appraisal of
land degradation in 35 agricultural regions of the country and
involved more than 400 agricultural professionals. A total of 367
magisterial districts were assessed and a Soil Degradation Index
(SDI) and Vegetation Degradation Index (VDI) were developed and
aggregated to form a Combined Degradation Index (CDI) (Hoffman
et. al., 1999). This indicator is an
impact indicator based on these three indices and represents the
percentage of each magisterial district of Mpumalanga that falls
into the different land degradation classes as defined and developed
by Hoffman et. al. (1999) in their review
of land degradation in South
Africa.
 |
| Assessment of
Data |
The extent of land degradation in Mpumalanga
is low with most the province (91%) being only slightly or lightly
degraded and only 1.3% being severely degraded. Furthermore, in
terms of the trends investigated by Hoffman et. al. (1999)
the condition of the land in Mpumalanga is good. The percentage of
land area in each degradation category in Mpumalanga (combined soil
and veld degradation) is provided in the table below.
| Categories of Degradation |
Area (%) |
| Insignificant |
20.3% |
| Light |
70.7% |
| Moderate |
7.7% |
| Severe |
1.3% |
|
|
